


Paradigm Shift

by intrepidsilt



Series: episode codas [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s11e09 O Brother Where Art Thou, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lucifer's Cage, Season/Series 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:41:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5415578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intrepidsilt/pseuds/intrepidsilt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sam, what do I want from you?" </p><p>The answer is new, different now than it was for all those decades in the Cage.  </p><p>11x09 coda.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paradigm Shift

**Author's Note:**

> Long time lurker, first time poster. I was finally moved to write my first ever work after the horrible, wonderful thing that was 11x09. 
> 
> Warnings for dark, depressing stuff (it is Sam and Lucifer, after all). Implications of non-con are oblique, not worse than canon-level.

"Sam, what do I want from you?"

He didn't think, not at all. The answer was automatic, trained and crisp even through the terror. "Nothing. Already yours." As soon as the words had left he wished he could draw them back in. 

Lucifer's chuckle was soft, and low, and pleased. "I'm flattered. You remember your lessons so well."

Sam swallowed, closed his eyes against the lump in his throat, the shame in his gut. He thought about breathing.

"Sam." Sam's eyes opened at the command in the tone.

Lucifer brought a hand to his jaw in a familiar gesture. Sam twitched. "It's going to be okay, Sam. I want you to reflect, truthfully, on all the time we've spent together, the tender moments we've shared." 

A quirk of the lips. "How many times have you asked what I wanted from you. How often have you pleaded, on your knees, to give me something, anything, hm? Bunkmate. How many times have you begged to give me _everything_?"

Sam couldn't respond. He was hyperventilating, he thought distantly. He couldn't move, couldn't think past the hand on his neck, the words in his skull. All he could do was stare into those pale, familiar eyes.

"Well. You can finally give me a gift, Sam. Something that already belongs to me, true, but you can give it nonetheless."

Lucifer drew back and snapped his fingers. Sam failed utterly to control his flinch, but no pain came. Instead, he was bare, chained at his wrists to the bars above his head. Familiar. Lucifer held a thin knife. Familiar, this was familiar. 

But no, this was _different_ , because he couldn't let go, couldn't give in, couldn't give. Because that was the Cage--Lucifer took and took, and Sam gave even though none of it changed a thing. And this was _a_ cage, one where Sam's actions, his words, his surrender, had _consequences_. 

At some point Sam's breaths had become sobs, silent, shaking hard but quiet, sick with panic. He blinked hard, thought of the scar on his palm, discarded the thought. He wished he could stop crying. He wished he could pass out, or collapse, or scream, or fight, or vanish. Just sink into nothingness. He thought of that reaper in the hospital, wondered wildly about the Void.

Lucifer laughed again, wiped tears from Sam's cheek with a thumb. "Sam, you know I've never lied to you. Just think what I'm giving you! Finally, what you wished for most through all those long, lovely decades--a way to make me _stop_."

He paused.

"Just say yes."

Like that question was all Sam needed to unlock his tongue, he was suddenly able to breathe through the terror. "No."

Lucifer shrugged. He seemed unsurprised. "Don't say I never gave you anything, Sam. But it seems you've forgotten where your love belongs. All those years you prayed for this chance to prove your loyalty. Let's see if I can't remind you, hm?"

Now Sam had said the word once, it felt like all he could say. He couldn't reach his scar. Anyway, this wasn't a hallucination. Real. Had to hold onto something. "No." 

Lucifer set the edge of the blade to the crook of Sam's shoulder. "I'm a bit out of practice. Think I've forgotten how to get it all off in one piece?"

 _No_ was the lynchpin. If it fell, then so would Sam. So would everything. "No." An honest answer to either question, actually. 

Lucifer laughed, at that. The sound was free and happy and different from all the times Sam had heard that laugh before. Less bitter, more genuine. He supposed that Lucifer finally had hope again. Sam was the one last, poor barrier to his freedom. He wondered, vaguely, how long he would last. 

"I knew you had faith in me, Sam. Now remember, the safeword is yes."


End file.
